From casual microaggression to outright ostracization, the LGBTQIA+ community doesn’t have it easy in Mauritius. “Li pas trop normal senla” (he’s not normal that one), Mauritians would often say when referring to someone who’s homosexual. Homosexuality is very taboo back home. This is mainly due to the fact that it’s a small island that is very conservative and religious. Homophobia is rampant and homosexuality is often perceived as a “sin” and an “unnatural behaviour”. Discrimination and abuse based on sexual orientation is normalized.

Criminalization of Sodomy

It doesn’t help that sodomy is illegal in Mauritius. While the law is rarely enforced, it encourages anti-gay attitudes and prejudices against sexual minorities. Under Section 250 of the Mauritian Criminal Code Act, sodomy is punishable by up to five years in prison. This law is quite paradoxical as it goes against the island’s Equal Opportunities Act which bans discrimination based on sexual orientation. I wanted to know what’s the experience of a gay Mauritian moving to Canada. Since I couldn’t speak on that experience, I talked to one of my fellow countrymen who kindly agreed to tell me about his journey to Canada.

Sexual Harassment

It’s been 4 years that Roudraksh has been living in Canada. As a feminine gay guy, he cannot help but recall his traumatizing times as a teenager. His clothes would often be scrutinized by his teachers and deemed too “distractive”. He also remembers his teacher unbuttoning one of his classmate’s t-shirt and dry humping him in front of the whole class. “If this had happened in Canada, their teaching career would have ended right away. This is sexual harassment,” he decries.

Sexual harassment, verbal harassment, and discrimination were his daily routine. He would often be inappropriately touched by his teacher, called “PD” (faggot) by them and dismissed. “I often made speeches on the international Women’s day and on the eve of one if the International Women’s Day, one of my teachers called me in her office. She informed that the rector said I couldn’t deliver my speech because a feminine guy giving a speech on the International Women day would make the college look bad. I didn’t know what to do so I bawled,” confides Roudraksh.

Ostracization

Roudraksh would be shut down by his teachers and judged by the way he dressed and his mannerism. To the point that he started to internalize homophobia. “It took me a lot of time to unpack all these things I had learned. In Canada, my teachers respect what I have to say. I can come to class in heels, makeup, and with crop tops and my teachers wouldn’t say anything to me,” he stresses.

Racism

While Canada enabled him to explore and express his sexual orientation, he quickly found out that these spaces were racist. It was the first time that he was discovering his brownness. “Coming from a diverse country like Mauritius, you are never made aware that you are a person of colour. Here I am not only gay, I am a brown feminine gay guy,” explains Roudraksh. He grappled with the intersectionality of his identities for a while and quickly realized that the treatment he receives as a brown gay guy is different from the treatment that white gay guys get.

“I remember when I was going to Pride in Toronto and I got in the streetcar with my crop top and everybody was staring. Two stops later, a white feminine guy walks in and he doesn’t get any stares at all. I quickly noticed that white gay guys are treated differently”, narrates Roudraksh. He explains that he is often reminded of his colouredness and his Mauritianness is often put in the backburner. “I feel like they try to put me in the box. I am Indian here and not Mauritian,” he stresses. Add to that equation the fetishization of his brownness.

The Challenges of Being a Feminine Gay

Being a feminine brown gay guy also poses its own challenges. There’s this tendency in the gay men’s community to openly discriminate against other gay guys who express a gender outside of traditional masculinity. There’s contempt and hostility toward effeminacy and effeminate men. “My femininity dilutes my male privilege. I am often told that I am trans because I could pass as female. I realized that my identity is defined by mainstream media representation of gayness and how much of my identity is validated by men,” explains Roudraksh.

As my fellow countryman continues to explore his queerness and find his place in the LGBTQIA+ community in Canada, I cannot help but think it’s sad to see queer Mauritians having to move out of the country to be authentically themselves. We have a long way to go before achieving equal rights and equal acceptance for all people in Mauritius – regardless of their gender, sexual orientation or self-expression. It starts with cultural change.